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Motorrad CEO Says BMW Is Not Interested in MotoGP

It looks like we're not going to see a BMW MotoGP team on the grid anytime soon. At least, this is what BMW Motorrad CEO Stephan Schaller is telling us.
BMW HP4 1 photo
Photo: BMW
Mr. Schaller added that BMW Motorrad will concentrate all their efforts towards developing road-going motorcycles and is not at all interested in putting together a MotoGP team that should field two motorcycles.

BMW's motorcycle division had an exceptional year in 2015, and Motorrad's CEO says that money is not a problem. "BMW would obviously have the economic strength to participate in the championship, but we will not use it to have two riders racing in that category," Schaller added.

We remind you that BMW pulled out even from the World Superbike at the end of the 2013 season. Since then, BMW started a support program for private racers. Usually, around $1 million (€0.9 mil) is being spent by BMW as contingency money through the racer support program.

For 2016, this program includes "19 championships, 318 races in 23 countries, on six continents, with the overall winner and the top 15 riders collecting cash prizes," as we reported earlier this year.

What will the future bring?

Now, this would not be the first time when we hear such words from the top brass of a motorcycle manufacturer, only to see the company doing the exact opposite around one year later.

Obviously, we're talking about KTM, whose CEO Stefan Pierer used to say that his company had no MotoGP plans because the return on investment (ROI) was very low and such an endeavor made almost no sense.

Still, it didn't take too long until KTM changed their mind and started a MotoGP program that is expected to bring a very competitive RC16 bike (by its current name) to the track. Official KTM reports say that the engine is already at the 270 hp bar and apparently KTM is looking for even more power. The entire project is going according to plan, and KTM has just confirmed signing a two-year deal with their first rider, Bradley Smith.

Whether BMW will follow the steps of their Austrian rivals is hard to guess now, but MV Agusta's rumored return to MotoGP seems to be through, at least for a couple of years.
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